A U.S. Navy destroyer has rescued an Iranian fishing boat that had been commandeered by suspected pirates just days after Tehran warned the U.S. to keep its warships out of the Persian Gulf.

American forces flying off the guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd responded to a distress call from the Iranian vessel, the Al Molai, which had been held captive for more than 40 days, the U.S. Navy said Friday. The Kidd was sailing in the Arabian Sea, after leaving the Persian Gulf, when it came to the sailors’ aid.

Image that? The US Navy ship was in the area due to the Iranian government in Tehran threats to cut off the Strait of Hormuz. We have been told by Iranian officials that the US is no longer welcome in the Gulf. I bet these Iranian fishing sailors rescued by the US Navy beg to differ. Whether at odds with a country or not, the United States is always there to lend a helping hand … A note to the haters of America, “It’s what we do.”

“It’s what we do. And it’s what we do in that part of the world. We get a distress call, as we did in this case, even though it came from an Iranian ship. When the pirates went after them, we respond to those calls,” Panetta said. “We did what we have to do in that situation. I think it just sends an important message to the world that the United States is going to abide by international rules and international order, and that’s exactly what we did here.”

This is what separates the Unites states from the other countries that US “haters” try to compare us to and say we are the same. Could we have expected the Iranian government to have come to a US boats rescue? Hmm? Not unless they wanted to take possession of the boat like a military drone.

OH, THE IRONY

UPDATE I:First the irony and now for something completely different … Wow, how much worldwide exposure did this humanitarian act get … Iran has finally commented and states that the January 5 US Navy operation was a “welcome and humanitarian act.”